NAIROBI, Kenya – LinkedIn, the go-to platform for professionals worldwide, is under scrutiny after a U.S. lawsuit alleged it shared users’ private messages with third parties to train artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Filed in a California federal court, the lawsuit accuses LinkedIn of violating privacy standards and contractual agreements by opting users into data-sharing programs without explicit consent.
The lawsuit, representing LinkedIn Premium users, seeks $1,000 per user for breaches of the U.S. federal Stored Communications Act and additional compensation for violations of California’s unfair competition law and breach of contract.
🔒🇺🇸 LinkedIn’s proposed class action storm: Allegations of using Premium users’ data for AI training without consent shake trust. The platform denies claims, calling them baseless as data privacy remains a hot topic in the tech world.
The lawsuit claims that in August 2022, LinkedIn quietly introduced a privacy setting that automatically opted users into sharing their data for AI training.
To make matters worse, it alleges LinkedIn updated its privacy policy the following month to reflect that personal data could be disclosed for AI purposes.
According to the lawsuit, LinkedIn also revised its FAQs to allow users to opt out of data sharing.
📱 In the United States, LinkedIn has been accused of training AI on users’ private messages. The lawsuit states that LinkedIn “quietly” changed its privacy settings in August last year, automatically connecting users to a program that allowed third parties to use their personal…
However, the platform clarified that opting out would not affect AI training that had already occurred.
“LinkedIn’s actions indicate a pattern of attempting to cover its tracks,” the filing stated, alleging the platform knowingly violated privacy standards while minimizing public backlash.
A LinkedIn spokesperson denied the allegations, telling the BBC that the claims were “false and without merit.”
Despite the legal firestorm in the U.S., LinkedIn told its users in 2022 that it had not enabled data sharing for AI purposes in the UK, the European Economic Area, or Switzerland.
The platform, which boasts over a billion users globally—nearly a quarter in the U.S.—has also been expanding its AI features, fueling rapid growth in its premium subscription base.
In 2023, LinkedIn raked in $1.7 billion from premium subscriptions, demonstrating the significant role paid memberships play in its revenue strategy.
The lawsuit, however, raises questions about whether AI innovations are coming at the expense of user trust and privacy.
As the lawsuit unfolds, it shines a spotlight on the growing tension between AI advancements and data privacy.
For LinkedIn, a company that thrives on trust within the professional community, the outcome could have lasting implications on its reputation and operations.
